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Skriven 2007-04-12 23:31:10 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0704123) for Thu, 2007 Apr 12
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Mrs. Bush's Remarks at Helping America's Youth Regional Conference
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For Immediate Release Office of the First Lady April 12, 2007

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at Helping America's Youth Regional Conference
Tennessee State University Nashville, Tennessee


˙˙˙˙˙ Mrs. Laura Bush Hosts Third Regional Conference on Helping America's
Youth ˙˙˙˙˙ Fact Sheet: A Commitment to Helping America's Youth ˙˙˙˙˙
Helping America's Youth

12:28 P.M. CDT

MRS. BUSH: Thank you so much. Thank you, Oscar. Thank you all, thanks so
much. Thank you very much, Oscar. I think Oscar did a terrific job of
telling his story. (Applause.) And I understand -- I think you've already
heard about Caf Reconcile, or maybe that comes next on the program after
the lunch break, I think next on the program. So you'll get to hear more
about where I met Oscar when I was in New Orleans the last time.

I want to thank Oscar. I want to thank him for a very kind introduction.
But I especially want to thank him for being an example to young people
around our country. You too, Kanesha. Thank you both very much. (Applause.)

Lieutanent Governor Ramsey and Sindy, thank you all for joining us today,
and a special thanks to Dr. Melvin Johnson, the President of Tennessee
State University. Thank you very, very much. (Applause.)

I'm very happy to have this chance to be here today with each of you and to
actually have a mic in Nashville. (Laughter.) Don't worry. Most of all, I'm
delighted to be with so many distinguished community leaders for this,
which is our third regional conference on Helping America's Youth. The work
you do in your communities, helping young people build the knowledge and
the self-respect they need to lead successful lives is at the heart of
Helping America's Youth.

President Bush announced the Helping America's Youth Initiative at his 2005
State of the Union address, and he asked me to lead it. So over the last
two years, I've traveled throughout the United States, visiting with young
people and with the adults who are so important to their lives. I've been
to schools and to after-school programs. I've met with mentors and Big
Brothers and Big Sisters. I've visited sports programs, a debate program in
Atlanta, gang-intervention programs in Los Angeles and Chicago.

All of these visits led to the White House Conference on Helping America's
Youth in October 2005, and then to the first two regional conferences in
Indianapolis and Denver. At the White House conference, we introduced an
online, interactive Community Guide, which helps concerned adults learn
more about their own communities. If your local law enforcement has mapped
your crime statistics, then the guide will show which neighborhoods have
the most youth-related problems, and what local resources are available to
address these problems.

Many of you were here yesterday, and you learned how to use the guide. The
guide is continually updated, it's user friendly, and it has resources that
help concerned citizens join with local youth groups to build community
partnership. The guide's interactive map lets users enter their own zip
codes, find demographic data about the young people in your neighborhood,
and then locate federally supported youth programs nearby.

And the guide's "program tool" helps adults find the youth initiatives that
research has proven are effective in reducing substance abuse, gang
activity, and other risk factors faced by young people.

The Community Guide is available on the Helping America's Youth Website,
which is www.helpingamericasyouth.gov -- that's g-o-v. The site also
features live and archived webcasts -- and, in fact, today's conference is
being streamed live on the web. So this gives me a chance to say hello to
the groups around Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia who are meeting today
to watch this conference as it goes on.

I encourage each of you to go to the website to watch the other
conferences, to use the Community Guide. Through the guide and through
these regional conferences, we're trying to make Helping America's Youth
more local, so that we can work directly with community leaders to address
the unique challenges facing young people in the United States.

And these challenges are far greater today than they were for children just
a generation ago. Drugs and gangs, predators on the Internet, violence on
television and in real life are just some of the negative influences
present everywhere. And as children face these dangers, they often face
them with fewer people to turn to for help. More children are raised in
single-parent families, most often without a father. Millions of children
have one or both parents in prison. Many boys and girls spend more time
alone or with their peers than they do with any members of their family.

This afternoon, we'll hear about the challenges particular to children and
teens in the South. In Appalachia, for example, young people face a crisis
of education. Appalachia lags behind the rest of the nation in the
percentage of high school students who go to college, yet 78 percent of the
jobs in our fastest-growing industries require college education. Today,
we're joined by representatives from the Appalachian Higher Education
Network, which helps thousands of young seniors in eight states pursue
higher education.

Before the network began working at these schools, only 50 percent of the
students went on to any post-secondary education, but just one year later,
the number has climbed to 64 percent --close to the national average.
Congratulations to the network. (Applause.)

In Oscar's hometown, and across the Gulf Coast, young people need the
stability of home, community, and school as they recover from the
hurricanes. You've already heard from Oscar about Caf Reconcile, which I
visited when I was in New Orleans this January. In the weeks after the
hurricanes, Caf Reconcile served hot meals to first responders,
construction crews, and local workers. Caf staff welcomed back area
evacuees one plate of red beans and rice at a time.

And as Caf Reconcile staff help New Orleans rebuild, they give local youth
on-the-job training for restaurant careers, as well as the support and the
self-esteem they need to become successful adults.

At this crucial time in our nation's history, we're also concerned about
the children of our men and women in uniform -- here in the South, and
across our country. Today, I'm looking forward to hearing more about
Operation Purple, which runs summer camps for the children of our deployed
troops.

In addition to offering traditional horseback rides and hiking and
campfires, Operation Purple helps campers deal with having a mom or a dad
in harm's way. Campers meet hundreds of other children going through the
same challenges, and they build a network of friends so they can lean on
each other while their moms or dads are deployed. One Operation Purple
camper wrote: "When the week was over, I didn't want to leave. After camp,
I had a lot more confidence that I can get through having a parent away."

The difficulties confronted by our military kids are among many great
challenges facing America's young people. But greater still is our love for
our children, our hope for them, and our dedication and the dedication of
millions of Americans to helping young people succeed.

To make sure every child is surrounded by positive influences, even more
adults must dedicate themselves to Helping America's Youth. Adults need to
become aware of the challenges facing children, and take an active interest
in their lives. Adults, and especially parents, should be reminded that
they teach their kids healthy behavior by their own good example.

Across our country, I've seen how adults from every part of the community
can make a difference in the lives of young people. In June 2005, I visited
CeaseFire Chicago, which has revolutionized the city's approach to
eradicating youth violence. Instead of relying entirely on law enforcement,
CeaseFire mobilizes whole communities to address the conditions that lead
to violence and shootings. Violence-prevention coordinators bring together
police, youth organizations, members of the clergy, community members, and
parents through broad public education campaigns.

CeaseFire sends Outreach Workers -- often former gang members themselves --
onto Chicago's streets, where they teach young people who've grown inured
to violence what normal standards of behavior are. CeaseFire encourages
adults to serve as role models, and encourages young gang members to get,
and keep, legitimate jobs.

CeaseFire's model is so successful that cities around the country are
adapting it to their own communities. And when I attended a CeaseFire
Summit in Chicago two weeks ago, one resident after another spoke of the
difference CeaseFire is making in their lives. Neighborhoods used to be so
violent that one man said, and I quote, "I have so many obituaries in my
house, I can't even count them."

But the program's founder, Dr. Gary Slutkin, explains that now, and I quote
again, "a lot of people in these same neighborhoods want to grow up to be
CeaseFire workers." CeaseFire Outreach Workers are even "followed around
like Pied Pipers because these kids are so hungry for a good example."

Right here in Nashville, caring adults set a good example for young people
at Rocketown, which was founded in 1994 by musician Michael W. Smith. Every
week, about 1,300 kids go to Rocketown for healthy after-school activities,
like film editing, songwriting, skateboarding, and dance. Teens struggling
with abuse, neglect, and peer pressure receive adult guidance from mentors,
who aren't too grown up to join the kids at Rocketown's coffee bar and
studios and skate park.

These mentors help Nashville's young people develop into healthy and
productive adults -- young people like Bobby and Saxon. In August, these
two brothers, ages 11 and 13, began coming to the Rocketown Skate Park.
Rocketown staff soon learned that the boys walked every day between the
skate park and home -- a route that covered miles, and traversed rough
neighborhoods -- just so they'd have some place to go, something to do, and
some friends to spend time with.

Rocketown staff arranged to give the boys rides between the skate park and
their home. And that's when they learned why these brothers were so
determined to spend time at Rocketown. Their parents were both unemployed,
and they were struggling with substance abuse. The family's home lacked
running water, and there was very little to eat in the house.

Now, with help from Rocketown, Bobby and Saxon's family has moved into
suitable housing. They receive assistance for groceries so the growing boys
can receive nutritious meals. Rocketown often partners with a local church
to provide services -- and this church now provides the boys' parents with
counseling. The church has helped them find jobs so they can enjoy the
dignity and the self-respect that comes with employment. And the boys'
parents are also learning how to read so they'll be able to provide for
their children long term.

And since Bobby and Saxon's parents work third shift, Rocketown makes sure
the brothers are supervised in those critical after-school hours. Rocketown
staff are always there for the boys -- talking with them about school,
working with them on family issues, and providing the stability, the
support, and the positive adult guidance that all children want and need.

The boys have become especially attached to Rocketown's Outreach Director,
Ben Cissell. Ben is showing Bobby and Saxon that while their past may have
been difficult, their future holds infinite promise.

If you ask Saxon why he likes Rocketown, he'll say that it's "awesome."
Michael W. Smith explains his program a different way. He says, "We've had
one success story after another. At-risk kids keep coming to Rocketown,
because they feel like they're loved here. The staff knows them by name.
We've even had a couple of these kids, who were on the verge of getting in
trouble, end up being on the staff. Now these kids have a chance."

Michael says he started Rocketown because otherwise, "Who's going to rescue
these kids?" Across the country, many dedicated adults are stepping forward
to guide young people away from risky behavior, and toward happiness and
success. Thanks to each and every one of you for doing this important work
in your communities. As you've heard throughout this conference, young
people want us in their lives, and they need us in their lives. And as I've
learned from the remarkable men and women I've met across our country, each
of us has the power to help America's youth.

Thank you all very, very much for coming today. Thank you for your
commitment to young people. May God bless you.

END 12:43 P.M. CDT
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